Tag: prayer and fasting

Prayer is basically a hungry soul reaching out to God in hot and earnest fervor.

My child,

Let me tell you a story.

It was the year 2004, I was sitting and occasionally facedown on my bed, asking God in prayer, “Lord, what is the heart of worship?” After some minutes of fervent asking, He replied and whispered strongly to my spirit, “It is knowing the greatness of God and your nothingness.” I was awed and literally speechless for around five minutes. The greatness of God and my nothingness; that God is everything and I am nothing.

It is really true that if you seek God with all your heart, you will find Him (Deu. 4:29), and that if you call upon Him He will reveal wonderful things beyond your thinking (Jer. 33:3). The best advice that I could give you is, Seek God’s face (Psa. 27:8). Pursue His Glory. Always pray with the heart of Moses, “Lord I beseech Thee, show me Thy Glory.” (Exo. 33:18)

Always pray that God will show Himself more. Never be contented with what you have now of God. Always desire for the more of His. I mean not His gifts, but God Himself, for God Himself is the greatest treasure, God Himself is our first inheritance. That’s why the Levites and the priests in Moses’s days didn’t have a portion of the land, for the Lord Himself is their inheritance – for God desires that they might be satisfied only in God, not in any other things (Num. 18:20; Eze. 44:28). That is very important, for the Levites and the priests were the first among His many servants – if you want to be a minister to God and to His people, you should have God at the center of your heart – God should be your first and only portion and inheritance. That is different from having many portions and having God at the first; no, you should have only God. It does not mean that you love not other blessings like the family or ministry, but, it means that when your heart seeks and treasures God, you treasure Him only. That is what it means to seek God with an undivided heart. Loving God that way will also transform your love for others in a more Biblical and God-centered way, increasing your love for others. That is why the first commandment is loving God fully, and the second one, loving others founded on that love of God. (Matt. 22:37-39) In short, God becomes the center of your love for your family, God becomes the center of your love for the ministry, etc. Your life and love become God-centric.

From my observations and understanding of the Bible, I could say that much of the Church is not living up to the standards of God. Why? For two things. First, they are not experiencing God enough. Secondly, arising from the first one, is that they have substituted God’s ways with the ways of man and have become contented with that sorrowful condition. If they experienced God enough in their hearts, they would have forsaken the ways of the world and have not incorporated them in the activities, plans, and systems of the Church.

And why is it that most of the God’s people are not experiencing God enough? We don’t have that full-hearted love for God. We do not love God fully. We do not seek Him with an undivided heart. Again my advice, and the commandment from the mouth of God, “Seek Me with all your heart.” (Psa. 27:8)

If you seek God with all your heart, He will reveal wonderful things to you. He will begin to open up His heart to you in a much more personal level, in a much deeper way, and you will experience what He promised as a friendship-relationship with the Master. (John 15:15) Not all Christians have this kind of relationship with Jesus.

As He reveals wonderful things to you, you will get to know more of His heart, more of His standards, His likes and dislikes, and you will begin to receive directions from Him. Here comes the call to obedience – take the risk and obey, though many may not understand you, and most will not at first.

But you should obey. Obedience to God is like using a flashlight on a very dark night. The light is not used on long distances, rather, on just a few steps ahead of you. The light is His Word and His direction. The more you obey and walk, the further and longer the light will keep on guiding you. If you stop in walking and obeying, then the light will stop on going further. Remember what you did last Sunday in worship? It must not stop there. Surely God has revealed other things to do. Just keep on obeying. Do not stop. Take the risk for God!

Remember, God is also speaking the same things on some people around you. You are not alone, as it often seemed to be. God has reserved some. You must take courage, the more you obey, the more they will take courage too and the more they will also try to obey.

God is looking for His children who will be bold to take His things seriously. God is looking for the few whom He could use to restore true worship and service in the Church. He could use even the weakest in the Church – if only even the weakest is willing to obey at all costs, at all risks. Again, when you do His ministry, do not be persuaded by the rules and systems of the Church, but only by His Holiness, Love, and Majesty. The rules and systems themselves are not holy, only God is holy. If you seek and respond rightly to the holiness of God, then your actions in the ministry and in everyday life will far surpass the systems and standards of the Church.

Most of the systems and rules of the Church have adopted the ways of the world. Our services, worship, preaching, and other ministries are very much acting like marketing corporations. We target the ears, the psychological mind, and the manly-pleasures of the people. We do not really aim for the salvation of the lost and the strengthening of the Church. Our actions of glorifying God fall short of His standards. We must break free from this. We serve the Holy God, and not anything or anyone else.

Last year’s summer was a frustrating one, and history will not repeat itself this time.

I was so eaten up by the internet, movies, and other non-living stuffs that last year of summer’s opportunity and privilege to hear from God was robbed from me. It was a tragic mistake, and it choked my life for the next whole year thereafter. It led me to wrong decisions and missed chances of service. It also took away some nice relationships.

And it’s summer again in the Philippines. It is still hurting me to remember that frustration, and all the aches it caused me. This time should be different, and that is my resolve.

I remember at this moment a nice thought from Facedown, a worship book from Matt Redman. It says that if we would like to hear from God, then we must ‘free’ ourselves from this busy world. we should go up higher and higher to relieve ourselves from the gigantic noises of this world to hear the silent and soft whisper of God.

A big challenge for me. No movies, no TV, no texting, and as much as possible, no internet. Ouch! Yes, that would really touch the most sensitive parts of my life.

But I have to do that. REALLY. That is my only chance of hearing from God. It would buy me some valuable time to pray, fast, reflect, and meditate on His Word.